Who Is It For?

Unit 5: chapters 4, 5 Flashcards Preview

affirmative action

a policy designed to give special attention to or compensatory treatment for members of some previously disadvantaged group.

2

americans with disabilities act of 1990

a law passed in 1990 that requires employers and public facilities to make "reasonable accommodations" for people with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against these individuals in employment.

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comparable worth

the issue raised when women are paid less than men for working at jobs requiring comparable skill.

4

19th amendment

the constitutional amendment adopted in 1920 that guarantees women the right to vote.

5

equal rights amendment (era)

a constitutional amendment originally introduced in 1923 and passed by Congress in 1972 and sent to the state legislatures for ratification, stating that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex." despite substantial public support and an extended deadline, the amendment failed to get enough support.

6

voting rights act of 1965

a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to african american suffrage. under the law, federal registrars were sent to southern states and counties that had long histories of discrimination; as a result, hundreds of thousands of african americans were registered and the number of african american elected officials increased dramatically.

7

24th amendment

white primary

one of the means used to discourage african american voting that permitted political parties in the heavily democratic south to exclude african americans from primary elections, thus depriving them of a voice in the real contests. the supreme court declared white primaries unconstitutional in 1944 by the smith v. allwright.

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poll taxes

small taxes, levied on the right to vote, that often fell due at a time of year when poor african american sharecroppers had the least cash on hand. this method was used by most southern states to exclude african americans from voting registers. poll taxes were declared void by the twenty-fourth amendment in 1964.

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15th amendment

the constitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to african americans.

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suffrage

the legal right to vote, extended to african americans by the fifteenth amendment, to women by the nineteenth amendment, and to people over the age of 18 by the twenty-sixth amendment.

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civil rights act of 1964

the law that made racial discrimination against any group in hotels, motels, and restaurants illegal and forbade many forms of job discrimination.

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13th amendment

the constitutional amendment passed after the civil war that forbade slavery and involuntary servitude.

14

equal protection of the laws

part of the fourteenth amendment emphasizing that the laws must provide equivalent "protection" to all people. as one member of congress said during debate on the amendment, it should provide "equal protection of life, liberty, and property" to all state's citizens.

15

14th amendment

the constitutional amendment adopted after the civil war that states, "no states shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

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civil rights

policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government officials or individuals.

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right to privacy

the right to a private personal life free from the intrusion of government. the right to privacy is implicitly protected by the bill of rights.

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cruel and unusual punishment

court sentences prohibited by the eighteenth amendment. although the supreme court has ruled that mandatory death sentences for certain offenses are unconstitutional, it has not held that the death penalty itself constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

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eighth amendment

the constitutional amendment that forbids cruel and unusual punishment, although it does not define this phrase. through the fourteenth amendment, this bill of rights provision applies to the states.

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plea bargaining

a bargain struck between the defendant's lawyer and the prosecutor to the effect that the defendant will plead guilty to a lesser crime (or fewer crimes) in exchange for the state's promise not to prosecute the defendant for a more serious (or additional) crime.

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sixth amendment

criminal court procedures:right to a speedy/public trialimpartial juryinformed of cause of incarcerationprovided with a lawyer

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self-incrimination

the situation occurring when an individual accused of a crime is compelled to be a witness against himself or herself in court. the fifth amendment forbids self-incrimination.

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fifth amendment

the constitutional amendment designed to protect the rights of persons accused of crimes, including protection against double jeopardy, self-incrimination, and punishment without due process of law.

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exclusionary rule

the rule that evidence, no matter how incriminating, cannot be introduced into a trial if it was not constitutionally obtained. the rule prohibits use of evidence obtained through unreasonable search and seizure.

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search warrant

a written authorization from a court specifying the area to be searched and what the police are searching for.

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unreasonable searches and seizures

obtaining evidence in a haphazard or random manner, a practice prohibited by the fourth amendment. both probable cause and a search warrant are required for a legal and proper search for and seizure of incriminating evidence.

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probable cause

the situation occurring when the police have reason to believe that a person should be arrested. in making the arrest, police are allowed legally to search for and seize incriminating evidence.

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commercial speech

communication in the form of advertising. it can be restricted more than many other types of speech but has been receiving increased protection from the supreme court.

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symbolic speech

nonverbal communication, such as burning a flag or wearing an armband. the supreme court has accorded some symbolic speech protection under the first amendment.

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libel

the publication of false or malicious statements that damage someone's reputation.

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prior restraint

a government's preventing material form being published. this is a common method of limiting the press in some nations, but it is usually unconstitutional in the united states, according to the first amendment and as confirmed in the 1931 supreme court case of near v. minnesota.

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free exercise clause

a first amendment provision that prohibits government from interfering with the practice of religion.

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establishment clause

part of the first amendment stating that "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

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incorporation doctrine

the legal concept under which the supreme court has nationalized the bill of rights by making most of its provisions applicable to the states through the fourteenth amendment.

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due process clause

part of the fourteenth amendment guaranteeing that persons cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property by the united states or state governments without due process of law.

36

14th amendment

the amendment adopted after the civil war that states, "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor any to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

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first amendment

the constitutional amendment that establishes the four great liberties: freedom of the press, of speech, of religion, and of assembly.

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bill of rights

the first ten amendments to the us constitution, drafted in response to some of the anti-federalists' concerns. these amendments define such basic liberties as freedom of religion, speech, and press and offer protections against arbitrary searches by the police and being held without talking to a lawyer.

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civil liberties

the legal constitutional protections against government. although our civil liberties are formally set down in the bill of rights, the courts, police, and legislatures define their meaning.

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sixteenth amendment

the constitutional amendment adopted in 1913 that explicitly permitted congress to levy an income tax.

41

barron v. baltimore

the 1833 supreme court decision holding that the bill of rights restrained only the national government, not the states and cities.

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gitlow v. new york

the 1925 supreme court decision holding that freedoms of press and speech are "fundamental personal liberties protected by the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment from impairment by the states" as well as by the federal government.

43

lemon v. kurtzman

the 1971 supreme court decision that established that aid to church-related schools must (1) have a secular legislative purpose; (2) have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion; and (3) not foster excessive government entanglement with religion.

44

zelman v. simmons-harris

the 2002 supreme court decision that upheld a state providing families with vouchers that could be used to pay for tuition at religious schools.

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engel v. vitale

the 1962 supreme court decision holding that state officials violated the first amendment when they wrote a prayer to be recited by new york's schoolchildren.

46

school district of abington township, pennsylvania v. schempp

a 1963 supreme court decision holding that a pennsylvania law requiring bible reading in schools violated the establishment clause of the first amendment.

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near v. minnesota

the 1931 supreme court decision holding that the first amendment protects newspapers from prior restraint.

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schenck v. united states

a 1919 decision upholding the conviction of a socialist who had urged young men to resist the draft during world war I. justice holmes declared that government can limit speech if the speech provokes a "clear and present danger" of substantive evils.

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zurcher v. stanford daily

a 1978 supreme court decision holding that a proper search warrant could be applied to a newspaper as well as to anyone else without necessarily violating the first amendment rights to freedom of the press.

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roth v. united states

a 1957 supreme court decision ruling that "obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press."

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miller v. california

a 1973 supreme court decision that avoided defining obscenity by holding that community standards be used to determine whether material is obscene in terms of appealing to a "prurient interest" and being "patently offensive" and lacking in value.

52

new york times v. sullivan

decided in 1964, this case established the guidelines for determining whether public officials and public figures could win damage suits for libel. to do so, individuals must prove that the defamatory statements were made with "actual malice" and reckless disregard for the truth.

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texas v. johnson

a 1989 case in which the supreme court struck down a law banning the burning of the american flag on the grounds that such action was symbolic speech protected by the first amendment.

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miami herald publishing company v. tornillo

a 1974 case in which the supreme court held that a state could not force a newspaper to print replies from candidates it had criticized, illustrating the limited power of government to restrict the print media.

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red lion broadcasting company v. federal communications commission

a 1969 case in which the supreme court upheld restrictions on radio and television broadcasting. these restrictions on the broadcast media are much tighter than those on the print media because there are only a limited number of broadcasting frequencies available.

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naacp v. alabama

the supreme court protected the right to assemble peaceably in this 1958 case when it decided the naacp did not have to reveal its membership list and thus subject its members to harassment.

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mapp v. ohio

the 1961 supreme court decision ruling that the fourth amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures must be extended to the states as well as to the federal government.

58

miranda v. arizona

the 1966 supreme court decision that sets guidelines for police questioning of accused persons to protect them against self-incrimination and to protect their right to counsel.

59

gideon v. wainwright

the 1963 supreme court decision holding that anyone accused of a felony where imprisonment may be imposed, however poor he or she might be, has a right to a lawyer.

60

gregg v. georgia

the 1976 supreme court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, stating "it is an extreme sanction, suitable to the most extreme of crimes." the court did not, therefore, believe that the death sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

61

mccleskey v. kemp

the 1987 supreme court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty against charges that it violated the fourteenth amendment because minority defendants were more likely to receive the death penalty than were white defendants.

62

roe v. wade

the 1973 supreme court decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional. the decision forbade state control over abortions during the the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted states to limit abortions to protect the mother's health in the second trimester , and permitted states to protect the fetus during the third trimester.

63

planned parenthood v. casey

a 1992 case in which the supreme court loosened its standard for evaluating restrictions on abortion from one of "strict scrutiny" of any restraints on a "fundamental right" to one of "undue burden" that permits considerably more regulation.

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scott v. sandford

the 1857 supreme court decision ruling that a slave who had escaped to a free state enjoyed no rights as a citizen and that congress had no authority to ban slavery in the territories.

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plessy v. ferguson

an 1896 supreme court decision that provided a constitutional justification for segregation by ruling that a louisiana law requiring "equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races" was constitutional.

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brown v. board of education

the 1954 supreme court decision holding that school segregation was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the fourteenth amendment's guarantee of equal protection. this case marked the end of legal segregation in the united states.

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hernandez v. texas

a 1954 supreme court decision that extended protection against discrimination to hispanics.

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korematsu v. united states

a 1944 supreme court decision that upheld as constitutional the internment of more than 100,000 americans of japanese descent in encampments during world war II.

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reed v. reed

the landmark case in 1971 in which the supreme court for the first time upheld a claim of gender discrimination.

70

craig v. boren

in this 1976 ruling, the supreme court established the "medium scrutiny" standard for determining gender discrimination.

71

regents of the university of california v. bakke

a 1978 supreme court decision holding that a state university could not admit less qualified individuals solely because of their race.

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adarand constructors v. pena

a 1995 supreme court decision holding that federal programs that classify people by race, even for an ostensible benign purpose such as expanding opportunities for minorities should be presumed to be unconstitutional.